Hana Bank Defeats Samsung Life Insurance Without Kiana and escapes 7 consecutive losses
Feb 02, 2025
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Samsung Life's main gun Kiana Smith suffered an elbow ligament tear and will not be able to play for at least three weeks. As the regular league ends on the 22nd, the goal is to return to the playoffs. As a result, the so-called `three-nation blood fight' to win the first place is likely to be narrowed down to a second-tier match.
Kiana's elbow bent while trying to steal Woori Bank's Kim Dan-bi's ball, which attempted a shot under the basket early in the third quarter against Woori Bank on the 31st of last month, and confirmed a ruptured elbow ligament in a detailed examination. With the goal of returning in three weeks, he plans to proceed with rehabilitation after rest, making it inevitable to miss the remaining six regular league games.
Kiana, who also played in the WNBA in 2022 as a mixed-race player, is an irreplaceable resource with an average of 27 minutes per game and 13 points and 3.1 assists. In addition to shooting ability that does not cover the inside and outside, the two-man game against center Bae Hye-yoon has destructive power that is hard for the opponent to stop. Thanks to Kiana's presence, teammates Lee Hae-ran and Kang Yoo-rim's scoring ability increased, as well as leading the game on behalf of injured guards such as Yoon Ye-bin and Lee Ju-yeon. It has melted quite a bit into Korean basketball, which has entered its third year.
In any case, Samsung Life Insurance, which is chasing Woori Bank and BNK within two games and is aiming to rank No. 1 in the regular league for the first time in 21 years since the 2004 winter season, is more regrettable.
This was also evident in the Hana Bank match held at Yongin Indoor Gymnasium on the 2nd. Samsung Life lost 47-52 to Hana Bank, which had lost seven consecutive games after failing to keep its lead until the third quarter. For Hana Bank, it was the first victory in exactly a month since the match against Shinhan Bank on January 2.
As feared, when Kiana, one of the pillars of the 'triangular formation', fell, even the power of Bae Hye-yoon and Lee Hae-ran fell. Samsung Life Insurance faced off with a strong defensive game in which many players were put in alternately instead of shrinking their offensive power, but failed to run away.
In the first half alone, Samsung Life Insurance pressured newcomers such as Park So-hee and Park Jin-young from the front to induce as many as 13 turnovers, but only Kang Yoo-rim scored 11 points and Bae Hye-yoon and Lee Hae-ran only scored 6 points and 3 points, respectively, entering the second half with a 31-29 lead.
Hana Bank rushed hard from the beginning of the fourth quarter, trailing 39-42. Following Jinan, Yuzuki also participated in consecutive goals and succeeded in reversing 43-42 again, and kept it to the end. Jung Ye-rim succeeded in a thunderous three-point run with 1:44 left in the game, and ran 52-45 to virtually decide the game and escape the long losing tunnel.
On the other hand, Samsung Life Insurance's attack option itself was so monotonous that it only went scoreless for nearly five minutes after Bae Hye-yoon's two points in the fourth quarter, which was the outcome, and its two-point shooting success rate was only 29%. As a result, Samsung Life Insurance, which has a 2.5 game gap with No. 1 Woori Bank, is expected to enter the playoff preparation system early, controlling its performance and condition rather than trying too hard to win the remaining games.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
